The Community Furniture Stores collect donated, unwanted furniture, large and small electrical appliances, other household items, and IT equipment, and make them available for re-use.  Regular collection and delivery services are operated.  Donated items and some new goods are sold at our store warehouse in York, Selby, and Scarborough.

Each store also has a workshop in place offering placements and volunteering opportunities to learn specific skills. At Scarborough and Selby, this is in the form of a carpentry workshop, where volunteers learn key skills and how to use equipment in order to repair and upcycle donated furniture which is then sold on the shop floor. At York, our IT ReUse workshop takes donated phones, laptops, computers and tablets, and volunteers work to wipe, repair, and get the equipment in good condition, when it is then given for free to those who need it and have been referred to us. 

Meeting our objectives:

• Helping households in need - households with limited resources, including people moving on from homelessness and others refered by local support agencies, are enabled to furnish their homes at reasonable cost.  A two-tier price system allows people with proof of low income to buy at lower price, whilst the public may also purchase items but at higher prices. CFS (York) supplies all household goods required through the Council’s Local Welfare Assistance Scheme.
• Offering training and volunteering opportunities – we work with various support agencies including Job Centres refer people for work experience in the warehouses and out on collections and delivery rounds, providing vital extra support at the Store and our workshops. We also have volunteers who aren't on placement, but simply want to contribute their time to us, and volunteer on a general, long-term basis.
• Educating & promoting re-use and sustainable waste management – as members of the national Furniture Re-use Network, the Stores provide re-use services to the general public. The stores collectively handle collectively over 20,000 items of household goods, weighing about 475 tons, which might otherwise be thrown away. This includes checked and tested electrical items, and small appliances and lamps.